Take Action: Arizona State Legislature Threatens Wolves

Three bills in the AZ Legislature would undermine the Endangered Species Act and place Mexican wolves in greater peril.

Please read the updates below and take action.

SB 1392 Mexican wolves; Interstate Compact allows the governor to enter into an interstate compact on wolves.  It seeks to remove wolves from the Endangered Species list and contains many weak and ambiguous provisions.  It fails to incorporate the federal standards of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) requiring management decisions to promote the recovery of the species, while including language about it being unlawful to kill a wolf, it is only a misdemeanor and therefore inconsistent with laws relating to killing of an endangered species.  Just 50 Mexican gray wolves remain in the wild today in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico.

Status
03/02/2011 – It passed out of the Senate 21-8-1.

Action needed
Please contact your representatives and ask them to vote against SB 1392. You can click on House to find your representatives’ contact information.

SB1395 endangered species act; interstate compact allows the governor to enter into an interstate compact on endangered species, but is clearly intended to undercut and supplant the Endangered Species Act.  It would make it illegal for a government official to enforce federal laws or regulations relating to endangered species in the state of Arizona.  It also contains many weak and ambiguous provisions.  The strength of the ESA has always been its commitment to science.  It helps to focus wildlife management and conservation on science with biologists and wildlife managers driving the recovery efforts, rather than politics.

Status
For more information and a detailed status on the bill, click on SB1395.

Action Needed
To take action on this bill as well as HCM2002, a measure to remove protections for endangered Mexican gray wolves, please contact your Senators and ask them to vote no. Click here for your Senators’ contact information.

HCM2002 remove gray wolf; endangered species asks the U.S. Congress to act immediately to remove protections for these endangered wolves under the Endangered Species Act.
 
HCM2002 contains inaccurate and misleading information, not the least of which is the assertion that “. . . efforts to recover the Mexican gray wolf have failed, brought on by delays in federal decision making over virtually all aspects of Mexican gray wolf recovery that are due in part to litigation filed by special interest organizations such as the Center for Biological Diversity, WildEarth Guardians and Rewilding Institute.” 
 
First of all, the efforts have not failed.  Recovering an extirpated species is a challenge — it is always best to act to protect species while there are still wild populations to be sustained.  Sometimes, we do not act quickly enough, however.  In those cases, and in the case of Mexican gray wolf, we have a moral obligation as well as a legal obligation under the Endangered Species Act, to take actions to reintroduce and recover the species.
 
Mexican gray wolves have not struggled to recover because of the delays for litigation from the Center for Biological Diversity and others.  They have struggled because of policies that required aggressive wolf removal.
 
There are additional inaccuracies regarding the so called “uncontrolled management of the northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf,” including that they have decimated moose and elk herds.  There is simply no evidence whatsoever to support that.  

This request is premature at best and at worst is a blatant attempt to conflict with the ESA determination that endangered and threatened species (and the habitats upon which they depend) require science-based management.

Status
03/10/2011 – It passed out of the House along party lines and awaits action in the Senate.

Action Needed
Please ask your Arizona Senator to oppose this message to congress. If you’re outside the Phoenix area, you can call your legislators’ offices toll free at 1-800-352-8404.  In the Phoenix area call (602) 926-4221.

Please thank Representatives Patterson, Campbell, and Meyer, for speaking up for wolves on the floor. 

Thanks to the Sierra Club-Grand Canyon Chapter for providing the information above. You can find updates on these and other bills in the State Legislature here.

Photo courtesy of Sterke Baks